New Hanover enduring worst flu season in a decade

Thursday

Dec 27, 2012 at 6:15 PM

225 cases seen statewide

By Jim WareJim.Ware@StarNewsOnline.com

New Hanover Regional Medical Center is in the middle of the worst flu season in about 10 years, hospital epidemiologist Dr. Paul Kamitsuka said Thursday.The hospital saw more confirmed flu cases during the first week of December than it saw all of last year, said Kamitsuka, an internal medicine and infectious diseases practitioner with Wilmington Health. Kamitsuka did not have an exact number of cases, but said the hospital has seen dozens of confirmed cases of the flu with most coming through the hospital's emergency department.The flu season at Brunswick Novant Medical Center in Supply started earlier than in past years and the number of cases has been fairly steady over the past few months, said Amy Myers, director of marketing and community relations for the hospital. "We've seen 92 positive flu cases at the hospital since September," Myers said. "While that's more cases than last year, it's not more than the average flu season. Last year was an unusually low volume."Kamitsuka said influenza is a potentially deadly virus, with about 36,000 people nationwide dying of the flu and 90 percent of those who die being 65 and older. Statewide, 12 people have died from influenza this season, with nine of those victims 65 years old or older.To help prevent the spread of the flu, New Hanover Regional and Novant encourage employees, doctors and contractors to be vaccinated against the flu. While nearly 100 percent of workers at both hospitals are vaccinated, some decline, Myers and Kamitsuka said. Those workers who sign forms stating their reasons for declining the vaccinations are required to wear masks if they are working within 6 feet of a patient.Additionally, New Hanover Regional started restricting visits by children 12 and younger on Thursday."Children may be able to spread the flu for up to five days or so before they even get sick," Kamitsuka said. "Since people who are hospitalized are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of flu, we're trying to do everything we can to protect the safety of them."The hospital also asks adults not to visit if they're experiencing flu-like symptoms, including a fever with sore throat, coughing, body aches or headache. Patients who come to the emergency departments or other care areas with those symptoms will be required to wear a mask.While Novant hasn't imposed additional restrictions on visitors, it is encouraging parents to keep children at home when visiting patients, Myers said."We remind all visitors of the importance of not coming to the hospital if they have a fever or are showing symptoms of a cold or flu," she said.Patients who arrive in Novant's emergency room with symptoms of the flu will be asked to wear a surgical mask to prevent the spread of the virus, Myers said.Kamitsuka said people are encouraged to get a flu shot, even though the region is in the middle of flu season. Those who get shots or nasal vaccines must wait 10 to 14 days for the vaccine to take effect, he said.